1. Name _________________________________________ Date ___________________ Period _________
Science Night 2008
Groton’s first annual Science Night will be held on Thursday, May 8th, 2008, in the middle school gym. This will be an evening of free food, friends, and science! The theme of this year’s Science Night is “challenges facing the 21st century.” This is a rather broad theme, and it leaves you a lot of room to select a topic. You MUST complete a project, but attendance at the science night is not mandatory. I STRONGLY encourage you to come, however, because there will be lots of nifty stuff to view!
My first period class is handling the demonstrations for the evening, which will be much like the frivolity that we enjoy on selected Fridays, and some students from that class are building a hydrogen fuel cell, as well. The students at the Alternative School will be doing a water quality project that compares drinking water from places around Groton, with water from surrounding towns. You, however have a few choices:
I. Present one of the labs that we have done so far. This means that you will have a table set up, or a poster, or a display board, and you will perform one of the labs that we have done this year as a demonstration. You can pick any lab, but you have to let your audience know how it is related to a challenge of the 21st century. A list of the labs that we have done so far is provided below.
Chemical identification of carbohydrates
Chemical identification of lipids
Chemical identification of proteins
Measuring with the microscope (we have digital scopes!)
The Scientific Method
Microscopy techniques
The light microscope
Yeast respiration
Bacterial culture techniques
Onion cell mitosis
State diffusion lab
Osmosis in egg cells
Epidemiology (I have a modified version that is instant!)
Vitamin C analysis
Bromelin activity
II. You may also pick a topic that is exciting to you, and provide a demonstration or experiment on that. Your topic must relate to the evening’s theme, however. Some possible suggestions are listed below.
Air quality
Climate change
Recycling
Composting (talk to Mr. Devoe!)
Solar power
Wind power
Water use, droughts, etc.
Plant growth in high CO2 environments
Microscopy of protists
Gram staining
Hydra anatomy
Cell microscopy
Salavary amylase
Influencing the human pulse rate
Dissection of the earthworm
The human lung
Goldfish respiration
Blood typing
Diagnostic urinalysis
Human senses
Calorimetry
Dissection of the fetal pig
Ocean currents
Hormones in food/water supply
Genetic engineering
Effects of rising ocean levels
Overpopulation
Famine
Replacing the internal combustion engine
pH of lakes/rivers

2. You may work in groups for this project, but all groups must be approved by Mr. Syracuse. If you work in a group, make sure you pick people with whom you can be productive. This project will count for a large part of your marking period grade, so choose wisely. If you choose to work alone, you will need to make sure that you can complete your project in time. Mr. Syracuse will help anyone who needs it, in any way that he can.
Begin selecting your project by filling out the following questions.
I. With whom will you work?
II. What topic do you want to investigate?
III. How will you investigate it? (you must have a physical experiment, not just a research project)
IV. What materials will you need? (be specific!)
V. How will you present your findings?
VI. How is your topic relevant to the evening’s theme?